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Tuesday, April 27, 2010

The love of reading

As soon as Bug came home from the hospital, I would sit him in his boppy or his bouncer and read him books. It didn't really matter what book it was. Often it was Dr. Seuss or brightly colored board books. Occasionally it was the Twilight series or excerpts from books like Wuthering Heights. He would stare at me with his dark, color-yet-undecided eyes with a serious expression listening to each word. As he grew older, grew mobile, and his attention span grew shorter I read and re-read his bountiful collection of baby books. If you were to visit, you would be able to tell which were used most often, because his favorites had little tiny little teeth marks around all of the edges.

Just recently, he has developed and even bigger zest for reading. He is starting to memorize books and protests if I accidentally skip a page. He can answer simple questions about the story by pointing or using words that he knows. He is constantly asking for "mo' book, please!" I, of course, am thrilled with this. So each week we have started to take books out of the library. I'm not talking about one or two, I'm talking about 8 or 10. I never know which ones he will actually like so the wide selection ensures that he will find a couple new favorites.

This week we have found a new author that he loves. Mo Willems. We checked out two books by him. The first is Leonardo, The Terrible Monster. Bug loves it because it has some of his favorite things in it. Sound effects, a monster (who he lovingly calls "Ardo"), a hug, and the word poop. It is wonderful story, and I highly recommend you check out if you are a parent. Bug calls it, "funny." The other book is Knuffle Bunny, A Cautionary Tale. Bug likes to point out how the main character, a baby named Trixie, is feeling when she loses her favorite stuffed bunny. I have read these two books so much this week that I have memorized them. Bugga Baby has too. Tonight before bed, as I was reading them to him, he would tell me the first word on the next page before I even got there. I have to say, I'm glad he is a book lover. I can't wait until he is older so I can make him.... I mean, suggest that he read the same books as me so we can talk about them!